Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • 4 Criteria for Creativity: Women Working or Drones?

    4 Criteria for Creativity: Women Working or Drones?

    What’s more creative:  1) drones delivering a Kindle to your door in 30 minutes or less or 2) women working?

    According to Fast Company’s  100 Most Creative People in Business, women in the workplace, in Saudi Arabia at least, is more creative. Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud topped the list of most creative people in business by inviting Saudi women to work.

    Quoted as saying, “You cannot have half your population not working,” the princess emphasizes why an “innovation” with people is more important than technology that allows all kinds of things to be delivered to your door as quickly as a pizza. Not only more important, but also more of a challenge.

    But is extending the invitation to work to half the population creative, or something entirely different? This example illustrates that in order for something to be truly creative, the following has to be present:

    1. Conventional thinking has to be challenged. In a country where it is illegal for women to drive, women working challenges conventional thinking.
    2. Risks have to be involved. Again, in a country where it is illegal for women to drive, risks are involved in inviting women to work.
    3. Impact extends beyond the original intent. Might it be made legal for women to drive because women are working? It may necessitate a legislative change eventually.
    4. Positive gains are made and results are achieved. As reported in the article, “The Riyadh department store-which opened in 2000 as Harvey Nichols’s first location outside the U.K. – weathered a 42% drop in profit last year, partly because of opposition to the female sales force and partly because of loyalty to the far-more-seasoned salesmen it replaced.” Time will tell if this creative intervention will lead to business results. But maybe, just maybe, this example goes to show that you get more points for creativity if societal results are achieved at the possible short-term detriment to business results. See #2 above. As the princess said, “The second a woman is responsible for her own finances, she’ll want to explore more of the world for herself and become less dependent.”

    What’s the most creative people intervention or idea have you ever witnessed?

    You may also like:  What Employers Want: Creativity

  • You Get 6 Seconds: Think Like a Recruiter when drafting your resume.

    You Get 6 Seconds: Think Like a Recruiter when drafting your resume.

    Count to six. What do you think you could get accomplished in this amount of time? Not much, but a recruiter has already reviewed your resume and moved on to the next one by the time you can get to seven.

    The Honest Truth.

    Hiring managers and recruiters, at least when it comes to making decisions based on a resume, don’t care about anything but your experience and your education if it’s required for the job.

    Someone may tell you having phrases like “highly motivated”,   “self-starter”, “strong interpersonal skills”, etc. need to be on your resume, but you can’t prove that you are these things simply by putting them down on paper.

    The cold hard facts that can be put on paper, and therefore, as the video shows, where recruiters focus their time:

    1. Where you’ve worked and for how long
    2. What education you’ve obtained

    And that is what the powers that be look at. You may be able to prove to them in an interview that you are, in fact, a “self-starter”, but stick to the concrete stuff on a resume. Where you’ve worked and for how long matters- whether we like it or not.

  • An Ode to Mollie and All High School Graduates: Seek Joy

    An Ode to Mollie and All High School Graduates: Seek Joy

    It’s that time of year. The cusp of summer means high school and college graduations. The end of something and the start of another. A time of transition.

    Mollie, a high school Co-Op student who has worked with us, graduates today.  She’s been a sheer joy to work with because of her sweet spirit and willingness to do anything and everything without a question or complaint even when I’ve dumped mind-numbing spreadsheet work on her.   She has done an outstanding job writing most of our Thursday blogs this spring, giving great advice to students and parents about career and college preparation.  And most importantly, she is great with my kids. Her curly hair, our son has found, is the best race track for toy cars.  Mollie, thanks for letting him turn your head into a race track!

    As I think about what advice to give to Mollie or any graduating senior, I can’t say it any better than country music (and definitely not better than Sandra Bullock). In the words of Darius Rucker, realize “It won’t be like this for long.”   So ENJOY it.

    Enjoy it by finding the root of the word- joy.  In the words of Sandra (Bullock that is) at her surprise graduation speech this week, “It’s the joy that stays with you.”

    Find joy in:

    1. The work you end up pursuing
    2. In people

    Mollie wrote about wanting to be a Child Life Specialist.  After a particularly trying set of medical tests this past week with our son, we realized the value of a Child Life Specialist during one procedure with him.  Mollie, you’d be great at this.  But don’t give up on the dream job of antique hunting.  You can do both, and being a child life specialist is kind of like babysitting.

    Most of all, Mollie, and all graduating seniors out there, share in joy with others. You’d be great as a Child Life Specialist because you would bring joy to children and parents through who you are.

    Mollie, we sure have enjoyed you- thank you.  Keep being you and the world will continue to be more joy-filled because you are here.

  • I’m Spending a Lot of Money on This: Getting and Measuring Bang for Your Buck Through Leadership Coaching

    I’m Spending a Lot of Money on This: Getting and Measuring Bang for Your Buck Through Leadership Coaching

    We’ve spent the last few months here at The Point blog talking about Leadership Coaching. Posts have included a run down on what to look for in a coach, should you hire a coach, our coaching process, how to seek feedback, how to practice feedforward and how to address the most common coaching issues.

    Does coaching work? 

    According to scholarly research in an examination of coaching effectiveness on 370 coaching participants, coaching produced results equivalent from moving someone from the 50th  percentile to the 93rd percentile and which equates to being at least three times more effective than leadership training impact on performance.

    Coaching is effective.

    But it isn’t cheap.

    So is it efficient?  In short, yes. The same scholarly article sites strong Return on Investment (ROI) in a different study that indicated the coaching to be worth 5.7 times the initial investment. This shows, spending money (on coaching) made the company 5.7 more money than what they spent on the coaching. You’ve got to spend money to make money, or so they say.

    Coaching provides bang for the buck.

    But will it work for you and give you bang for your buck?

    Just because leadership or executive coaching has been cited to be both effective and efficient for certain organizations, how do you know if coaching will pay off for your organization or if it has if you’ve already engaged a leadership coach?

    First, you hire a coach that measures the performance of their endeavors.

    If you want a complete run down on how to evaluate coaching we suggest reading:

    A Practical Guide to Evaluating Coaching: Translating State-of-the Art Techniques to the Real World(Peterson & Kraiger, 2004)

    But, for the sake of your time here’s what we do and suggest (and many of these ideas come from the above reading):

    1. Make sure your purpose is defined at the beginning so you can measure performance against that purpose.

    2. To measure did it work? Gather individual data  (we use a 360° feedback tool) at the beginning of the engagement and then issue the same data gathering process at the end of the coaching engagement to see if improvements are present. Sometimes this can be too cumbersome or time consuming to administer the 360 again. If that is the case, pinpoint key areas cited for improvement and simply gauge these areas for improvement through a shorter survey.

    3. To measure did it work? Measure success against goal attainment. Were the goals or learning objectives in the coaching achieved? This is simply a yes or no thing, and of course begs the question of goals needing to be set at the beginning of the process.

    4. To measure did it work? Get the leaders of the leaders being coached to evaluate change in performance level before and after the coaching. Has desired performance level been achieved?

    5. To measure did it work? Get the participants to provide feedback on the effectiveness of coaching by issuing a questionnaire to them. The article cited above has a good one that could be utilized.

    6. To measure did I get bang for my buck?:  Look at individual results achieved during the coaching time period compared to the cost of the coaching (this is measuring ROI).

    For example, at the individual level was the purpose of the coaching engagement to help someone improve their time management skills? If so, how much more efficient are they with their time and how much is their time worth? If they make $100,000 a year (considering a 40 hour work week which we know is probably on the short end of the time most leaders work each week), each hour of their time is worth almost $50.00.   If they improved efficient use of their time by an estimated 10%, then this efficiency gain equates to a value of $10,400 a year. Did the coaching cost more or less than this?  Let’s just say the coaching cost $5000.00. Well you just go a 100% return on your investment.

    7.  To measure did I get bang for my buck? Look at results at the organizational level during and after the coaching engagement. Obviously, every organizational gain isn’t a direct result of coaching, other factors come into play, but this needs to be measured. For example, did sales, quality, production efficiency, etc. increase as a direct or indirect result of people who have been involved in the coaching?

    Anything worth doing, which coaching should be worth doing, is worth doing right.  And the only way to know if it is done right is to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency.

    Are you measure the results of your organizational initiatives such as leadership coaching? If so, how?

  • I May Have Adult ADD But I Wouldn’t Trade It For Anything: Refusing to Choose Between Work and Life

    I May Have Adult ADD But I Wouldn’t Trade It For Anything: Refusing to Choose Between Work and Life

    At an HR conference this week with a focus on wellness, the topic of work-life balance is bound to come up. It is and continues to be a buzz phrase in the field. How do we as individuals balance work and “life” and how do companies and HR professionals help employees find and gain balance in order to promote wellness and avoid stress and burnout which ultimately hurts company performance?

    As I sit here writing this at the conference, my eight week old is with me. So is my mom who is here to help and also hear some key sessions at the conference she is interested in. I am going to sessions, volunteering for the conference, checking email and responding to clients, eating dinner with friends and aunts I haven’t seen in a while, feeding my little girl and changing her, talking to her and enjoying her precious grins that have just begun to make an appearance across her sweet face.

    I think I may have adult ADD (attention deficit disorder) with the constant change in focus, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Because I enjoy each component of these activities and roles, the lines between my “work” and my “play” or “life” are so blurred that I’m sometimes not sure which box I’m in, and in my opinion that is the way it should be.

    You don’t have to choose between work and life.

    The people I know who love their work don’t talk a lot about work/life balance. They do work, they do life and oftentimes they aren’t sure which one they are doing at the moment. It’s just all life.

    So how do we get to the point of not needing to seek out work/life balance?

    1. Choose work you love. Finding the unique balance between your talents, your passions and your values will enable you the opportunity to choose work you love and allow you to make it an integral part of your life. It also allows you to clear the clutter and say “no” to things that really do not need to be a part of your life and your work.
    2. Surround yourself with people who support you in your work and life. I realize that this may be more of a challenge for some than others because to a certain extent it may be out of your control. I am fortunate that my mom was able to come with me to this conference because she too had a business needs to hear some of the speakers. My husband is at home with our other child manning that front, and he is glad to do it. But it goes beyond just having the support of family being close by or having the flexibility to help. It extends to doing business- working with and for- those who share the same mindset of work-life balance.

    For example, I’m working with a marketing firm to develop a marketing plan and strategy to take the company to the next level. The timing of brainstorming sessions needed for this came about two weeks after I had the now eight week old. We didn’t postpone it. They came to my house to do it. Not one session, but two. They held the baby, I held the baby and, because my husband was still off on leave because of the birth, we were able to get his ideas too, which is highly valuable to me. In my opinion, we came up with, among other things, some pretty awesome tag lines for the three unique lines of services/products we will be offering soon. (If you want to turn on your creative side, go grab a baby while you brainstorm). Picture proof of this session here.

    1. Refuse to think either/or: I could have postponed the brainstorming sessions and I could have skipped this conference and some people probably think I should have skipped both. Aren’t most maternity leaves 12 weeks? But I’d rather do both from a different perspective- having my child with me, who obviously needs me almost constantly as an infant and who will so soon not be giving me those sweet grins that I don’t want to miss out on, and doing work that I love and I hope meets needs for others too can be done together.

    I don’t have to separate my work from my life or choose between the two and you don’t either.

    What are your best methods for doing life instead of having to balance work and life?